A Topic I Hate to Address on Christmas Eve

In years past, I've had my more-or-less traditional Christmas Eve post that I used to reflect on the beauty and craziness - of the day before the holiday. This year, for many reasons, I'm finding it hard to get into the Christmas mood, and I need to vent a bit to help center myself to enjoy tomorrow's festivities. Sorry to be a downer. Read on if you wish, or come back tomorrow if you don't.

I've written several times in this space about the Seven Deadly Sins - the most awful of vices according to Christian tradition. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with them, they are:

Pride - irrational self-confidence or the contemptuous rejection of the feelings or importance of others. It is considered the worst of the deadly sins, and the original source of the others.

Greed - an intense desire to possess more than what one needs;

Wrath - uncontrolled feelings of anger, rage, or hatred, or an intense desire for revenge;

Gluttony - excessive consumption, whether of food or resources;

Sloth - indifference or laziness toward one's responsibilities;

Lust - although usually thought of in sexual terms, it can also refer to an overwhelming desire for power or money; and, 

Envy - resentfully coveting the traits or possessions of another person.

I think about them often nowadays in the context of the miserable human being who rules our nation. If ever there were a proud poster child for the Seven Deadly Sins, it would be Der Furor. Consider this ...

Pride - there has seldom been a more noisily self-aggrandizing, self-promoting individual than Der Furor. He misses no opportunity to trumpet his own successes, real or imagined, and is famous for his repeated declarations that "nobody knows more about (insert topic) than I do."* He has also unilaterally added his name to the US Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center in Washington, and a fantasized fleet of "Trump-Class" battleships for the Navy.

Greed - the degree to which Der Furor has monetized the presidency for the benefit of himself and his family is staggering, and the degree to which his enablers ignore or make excuses for it are truly mind-boggling. House Speaker Mike Johnson is on record as saying investigations of Der Furor's alleged corruption are unnecessary, as "[he] does everything out in the open. He’s not trying to hide anything. There's no shell companies or fake LLCs or fake family businesses. He’s putting it out there, so everybody can evaluate for themselves.” I guess there's no crime if you do it in the open for everyone to see. 

Wrath - seldom in our history has a president so openly sought revenge against those who have investigated and prosecuted him for his crimes. Never has the Department of Justice been so blatantly and openly weaponized against the perceived enemies of a sitting president. Never has a president so angrily insulted and demeaned immigrants from other nations, his political opponents, and even his own supporters who have criticized him. 

Gluttony - consider the over-the-top glitz of Mar-a-Lago and the transformation of the White House and the dignified Oval Office into a gilded advertisement for power and wealth.

Sloth - some of Der Furor's best naps seem to take place during official meetings, sometimes even while his acolytes are gushing effusive praise of his stamina, intelligence, health, executive capabilities, and ability to prevent hurricanes from striking the United States.

Lust - remember the Access Hollywood tape? The visit to the dressing rooms for the Miss USA competition to leer at young naked women? His conviction on charges of sexual abuse? The endless attempts to cover up whatever the "Epstein Files" may reveal? I rest my case.

Envy - Der Furor coveted a military parade after seeing a Bastille Day parade in Paris. He wants a memorial arch for Washington bigger than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. He has demolished the historic East Wing of the White House in order to build a ballroom large enough to impress foreign visitors.

I'm truly sorry for the tone of this post, but I had to flush the disappointment from my system in order to be able to achieve some measure of the Christmas spirit I miss so much. This was a topic I should never have to write about at Christmas, but here we are.

Have a good day, and try your best to get into the Christmas spirit that brightened your life once a year as a child. I'm trying.

More thoughts - in a happier vein - tomorrow.

Bilbo

* This list dates to 2019. A current list would probably be twice as long. At least.